hackSECRETS
by dragonmaster8
Summary: Terry woke up from a coma she got while playing The World, and she can't remember anything. Why is she different from everyone else who was put in a coma? Sequel to .hackVIRUS. Read that first for this to make sense. Not updated. Please read.
1. Rain

It turns out that I have nothing better to do, so I've written this early. This is a story following up on the Terry waking up thing from .hackVIRUS. It will bridge the events of the first story to its sequel. So, have fun reading! Also, based in the real world. Not the game.And I can't get the line insert to work, so wherever the word SPACE is, just know that it counts as that line.

Rain

She was falling, falling down a tunnel of darkness. She screamed, but it seemed to go unanswered. Her eyes were pinched shut, but if they weren't, she wouldn't have known the difference.

A cruel voice laughed somewhere, and she was suddenly surrounded by a harsh blue light. The light encased her, and she began to forget. She forgot everything, her friends, who she was, and only one dark name was burned into her head. A name for evil. Varuchio. She screamed and-

REALITY

-And she sat up in her bed. She was soaked in sweat, and it made her bangs stick to her forehead. It was only a nightmare.

_The same nightmare I've had for two weeks, now, _she thought.

Rain splattered wildly on the window to the left of her bed. Her room was full of dolls and cute little trinkets. All of it was foreign to her. A small cat sleeping on top of her dark blue blanket opened one tired eye as it sensed the hurried footsteps on the plush carpeting of the outside hall.

"Terry!" cried a woman in a pink fuzzy bathrobe. She had long dark hair like hers and was young. She looked so old, though. She was only thirty-two, but seemed ancient. The man standing next to her claimed that she had been under a lot of stress lately. The woman's name was Kate.

"Are you alright?" asked the man next to Kate. He had equally dark hair that was short and spiked up. He wore a short sleeve shirt and under-shorts. He claimed his name was Dave. Both claimed to be her parents, but she had no way to know. One week ago, she awoke from a coma in the hospital with no memory; that is, except for her name. She knew that it was Terry. "What made you scream?"

Did_ I scream?_ She couldn't remember. That didn't seem to be her strong suit, remembering. "I'm not sure," was all she managed to mumble.

"Was it another nightmare?" asked Kate in a soothing voice.

"Yeah, must've been," Terry said dismissively. She tried to avoid these conversations because she knew where they would lead. To her relief, her "mother" dropped the topic to get her "daughter" a glass of water. She wasn't so lucky, however, with Dave. Once he heard the soft treading of Kate's feet going down stairs, he walked over to her bed and stared deep into her eyes.

"Do you…" he began. He was definitely feeling awkward asking the same question again, but definitely not as much as Terry. "Remember…anything else?"

Terry sighed. "No, I really don't, Dave." she said flatly. She didn't really like the conversation they were having. "Actually, I'm kind of tired, so…"

"Oh," said Dave in an understanding way. "I'll let you get some sleep." Before she could say anything along the lines of "Thanks," he had left the room, and closed the door. Terry soon drifted into a dreamless sleep, and the cat let its head fall onto the soft bed. Terry never heard the boom of thunder, or the squeal of breaks as a CC Corp. van slowed to look at her home.

SPACE

The cat raised its head about five minutes after the man had left. It was hungry, and although it was past midnight, it didn't care. It had no sleep pattern. After licking its paw for a while, it leaped off the bed.

It quietly stalked across the floor, until it reached a closed door. It pawed at the bottom, trying to find a way to reach its food. It stopped to sniff the door, and recoiled its head as it felt the door begin to open. It was the woman, the big one, and it ran out behind her.

The carpeting was soft on its paws. It reached the smooth tile kitchen floor, and searched for its food. It was found in the corner, and it began to crunch the hard kibbles with its jaw.

By the time the cat finished, the big woman had gone back into her room, and closed the door. It stopped to lick its paws in front of the door, and began to hear that strange language again that they used to talk to it.

"Why can't she remember?" asked a male voice.

"We just have to give her time," responded a female voice.

"Two weeks isn't enough to at least remember that we're her parents?"

"It all depends on the mind-!" the female was cut off.

"Don't go pulling your psychiatrist stuff! Not even you can know what made her go into that damn coma! Don't you dare even try to tell me it was that game?!"

"No one knows what really happened except for her, and she can't remember anything."

"She called me by my name!"

"Huh?"

"She doesn't even call me 'daddy' anymore! We used to be so close…then all _this_ happened! Now its like she's drifting further and further away from us,"

"We have only one choice, and that is to give her time."

The conversation seemed to have ended around the time the cat finished cleaning itself. It was getting bored anyway. Time to go to sleep again. It jumped up the stairs, and saw that the girl's door was closed again. It decided to sleep out on the carpet of the second floor.

SPACE

The next day seemed to match Terry's mood. The rain still hadn't let up. She pushed herself out of bed, aware that it was around the time that most of the kids her age were to go to school. She stood by the window, and watched the teenagers go to the high school down the street. She herself had been a freshman before this whole thing started.

_Great, just what I need. More attention focused at me. I was already left alone. They all thought I was weird, except for Claire._

She clapped her hand over her mouth. She was actually starting to remember. But who was Claire?

After deciding that Claire must have been a friend, she showered and got dressed before heading down to breakfast. Dave asked the same question he always did when she reached the table. She could guarantee that he wasn't expecting the answer he got this morning.

"Do you remember anything…at all?" he asked gently.

"Actually, yes." At her words, Dave jumped up from the table and ran over to her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently.

"What?!" he demanded. "What do you remember?!"

"Dave!" scolded Kate. "Stop shaking her so hard, you'll make her forget it!"

Kate stood up and walked over to Dave. She pried him off of Terry, and began to talk to her gently. "What is it you remember, sweetie?" Terry stared uneasily for a few minutes, trying to recover herself from the violent shaking. "It's okay, whenever you want to tell us,"

Dave looked like he was about to explode with anger. He wanted the facts now! He wasn't as patient as Kate. Terry saw this, and slowly began to speak. "I remember school," her parents were waiting for the rest. "And…Claire."

Again, her "father" jumped up. "You remember her? The girl you were friends with? Want me to call her over?"

"Wait!" pleaded Terry as he reached for the phone. "Only what her name was, and that she was my friend. I don't remember who she is."

"Dave," said Karen in a commanding tone. "She isn't ready for all this pressure, give her some time and she'll remember."

"Excuse me, Karen?" began Terry. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go for a walk."

"But it's raining!" gasped Karen.

"I'll bring a coat," she responded tonelessly.

"All…all right." she responded after a while. Terry grabbed her coat off the coat rack, and walked out of the house silently, leaving her breakfast.

SPACE

The park she finally stopped walking in was gloomy, and depressing, much like her mood. Why couldn't she remember anything? Why was it so hard? There was a soft tinkle to her left.

When she turned her head, she saw a young man pushing an old-fashioned hot dog cart down a sidewalk off in the distance. It looked like he was depressed that it had rained on a day he wanted to sell on. The tinkle had come from the bell fastened on the handle bar to attract customers. It was stupid really, to have believed that sales would be any better if it wasn't raining. Those hot dogs were disgusting.

_I remembered something else._ He mood lifted, and sank again all to quickly like a roller coaster. _Another useless piece of info._

She sighed heavily, and slumped her shoulders. Why couldn't she just have woken up knowing everything?

A twig snapped.

Terry did a sharp one-eighty and caught sight of a young man only a few feet behind her. She felt herself go numb, and immediately screamed.

"Wha? No, wait-_uf_…" The man started to speak, but Terry quickly kicked him in the stomach. The wind was most likely knocked out of him. She ran.

She ran up the steps of the damp park, and made a quick right towards he house. She ran as fast as she could, and didn't stop to see if the man was actually chasing her. She eventually made it to he house, and slammed the front door when she was in.

What had that mans intensions been? Was he a friend, or an enemy? The worst part of it all was that he had a familiar feel around him. Like he had done something evil once. Terry felt her brown eyes begin to water, and she fell onto the floor with her knees curled up to her head, and her back resting against the door. She hugged her knees, and began to sob heavily.

"Why can't I remember?" she asked no one, and cried even harder.

SPACE

When she finally was feeling better, she went to get some food. Just a little something to eat while she tried to make heads or tails of the guy she saw in the park. As she reached the fridge, she found a note that also answered why no one had come to see who was crying uncontrollably in Kate and Dave's front hall.

Dear Terry,

Dave and I are going to buy some things for the house. We should be back by five or so. I left some food in the fridge for you to eat (it's clearly labeled). Just be sure to clean up any mess you might make. I made your bed for you and put your old TV back in your room in case you wanted to watch something while you were lying down. I haven't gotten the cable set up again yet. That'll take some time. Just wait a little while, okay? I wasn't to sure about leaving you all alone, but Dave insisted that you'd be fine. If you want, you and I could go to the mall a little later and buy some cloths or something. I know you used to love doing that. Do you still? I'm just not sure. Oh! Look at me! I'm rambling on and on. You just relax for a little while. Hope you feel better soon.

Love,

Mom.

"She means Kate," Terry said quietly. She pried open the steel fridge, and stared blankly at a pretty much empty fridge. The only contents were a few packages of lunchmeat and ketchup with a slip of paper that read 'Terry' on it. These people really waited till the last second to buy their stuff.

Terry pulled the cold meat out of the fridge with the ketchup and a pack of sliced cheese that she found under the meat. She sprawled her ingredients across the island counter in the middle of her kitchen where she ate. A quick inspection of the cabinets gave her bread.

As she began to pile the meat onto the bread, she heard a noise that made her freeze. It was the front door opening. Were Kate and Dave back already? No, they couldn't be, it was only three. Was it that man she'd seen in the park? Had he really followed her to her home and waited a while to enter it? She began to panic. She slowly rounded the corner into the living room. Through another wall and she was in the front hall. She peered around the staircase-

"Meow!"

-And sighed with relief as she saw the cat working its way through the pet door that was installed for it. The rain most have caused the pet door to make a quieter version of the front door open. She must've mistaken it for the front door. She took a deep breath, and returned to her sandwich.

SPACE

Kate had been right. The TV didn't have cable, and it was _incredibly_ boring without it. Terry flipped from channel to channel, taking bite after bite of her sandwich, and, after finding that nothing was on, she settled on news. The newscaster began talking about boring stock drops, and Terry thought she was going to fall asleep.

Suddenly another newscaster came on, declaring he had breaking news.

"-And as we investigated the CC Corporation's shocking declaration of a staff member committing suicide, which has nothing to do with a 'foolish game', in their words, we discovered something terrible. The staff member died of unknown circumstances, and as we've been trying to figure out why, we discovered that a strange virus had actually taken over his body, and caused it to shutdown. This virus is believed to be the same one that caused the players of "The World", a massively popular game, to slip into comas.

"The workers name was Varuchio Zespugo-,"

Terry screamed, and fell on the floor. She didn't know why, but that name hurt. It caused her to collapse on the floor of her room with her head in her hands. The name was like a lost dream; or more like a lost nightmare. She began to cry again, out of agony. Who was this man?

She finally regained control of herself, and saw that her cat was eating her sandwich, which she had knocked off her bed. She pushed herself off the ground, and heard a sound like the door closing again; but the cat was with her and it was only three-fifty.

She shook her head. It wasn't the man from the park. Kate and Dave were just home early. She pushed open her door, and hiked down the steps to greet her parents after wiping away the last of the tears.

"Welcome ba-!" Her mouth opened in horror. It was the man from the park. He had followed her to her house. He _had_ just waited for the right time to come in. He caught sight of her, and Terry felt like he was going to kill her.

SPACE

Steve pushed open the front door to the house, and heard a soft voice.

"Welcome ba-!"

The voice stopped, and Steve looked up to see a young girl of around fourteen standing on top of the staircase right in front of him. She looked terrified to see him. The man gave a small laugh under his breath. If anyone should've been terrified, it should be him! That kick to the gut left a nasty bruise on his abdomen.

The girl turned and ran down the upstairs hall. Steve knew he had to talk to her. After what he'd done, the least he could do was have the girl hear him out. He hiked calmly up the carpeted steps, and looked for the door to her room. They were all closed. He pushed open the one in front of him, and found a bathroom.

Chuckling to himself, and moved to the second door, and pushed it open. It was definitely the girl's room. He looked around for a place that she could've hid, and settled on the closet. He walked over to it, and pushed open the finished oak doors.

SPACE

Terry ran into her room, and slammed the door. She had to find a place to hide from him. She heard his calm footsteps echo through the door of her room. They were as creepy as a serial killer's in a movie.

She ran into her closet, and softly closed the door, when she heard laughing. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it sounded psychotic. A little later, she heard the door of her room open.

"Oh please don't look in the closet," she whispered to herself. Wasn't it her luck that the closet door opened only seconds later? As she cursed herself for not finding a better hiding spot, he caught sight of her. She hid her head, and waited for him to kill her.

"Wait a second. You don't have a reason to be scared. I'm harmless," said the man. Terry wanted to laugh at him.

"Do harmless people sneak up on people in the park?" Terry asked with anger in her voice.

"I was on the other side of the park, saw you, and just walked up to you. I had to talk to you," he responded coolly.

"Do they burst into other peoples houses and try to 'talk' to little girls they don't know?" Terry blurted out.

"Alright. You have me on the house thing, but I _do_ know you. I worked for your uncle," he said.

"My uncle?" asked Terry.

"Yeah, and all I came her to do was ask you a few questions, and explain some stuff to you. I know you don't remember anything, but can you at least give me a chance to explain myself?" said the man.

"Harmless people usually introduce themselves first,"

"My name's Steve."

"Alright," said Terry reluctantly. He did seem nice, and he didn't seem to hostile, but Terry would still be cautious. She climbed out of the closet. "One Chance."

FLASHBACK

A man reached out to Terry and clasped her shoulder. He had a cold voice, and looked like he was trying his hardest to be nice.

"Would you like that? Would you like to play "The World" at my work place? CC Corp.?" asked the man.

"Well" began Terry. "Alright. Just for a little while,"

"Perfect," said the man. "See you in a little while, Dave,"

Dave nodded, and they began to leave, but Dave grabbed on to the man's arm. "Be careful," began Dave. "I've heard something's happening on that game."

"Oh, we will," said the man, and then smiled.

"Just be careful, Varuchio."

END

There's the first chapter! This book isn't that long, so it'll only be a little while before I start the true sequel. Please Review! And sorry if you don't like the type of story it is. You can always wait until the actual sequel comes out and read that.


	2. Classes

Thanks for the review! As I said, if you don't like it, it's short, so, if you want to just wait for the true sequel to come out, you don't have to read this. All it does is follow up on Terry with a few references towards the sequel and the original. And really, really sorry about the non-update. Holiday and stuff delayed me.

Classes

FLASHBACK

The car ride was long, and there was a lot of rain. The windshield wipers occasionally flicked up and down to move the rain from side to side so that the driver could see. All Terry cared about was playing "The World" on one of CC Corp.'s advanced computers.

The brakes of the car squeaked loudly as the black car came to a stop in front of a large building. From the logo displayed every few feet, Terry could tell that it was the CC Corp. building. She was growing more and more anxious every second. She was almost in the building that had what was going to be the most fun thing that would happen to her. Or so it seemed.

"Terry?" asked the voice. "Are you coming?"

"Hm?" asked Terry, before realizing that she had to get out of the car. "Oh, it's time to play the game?"

"Yes," Varuchio said grinning evilly. Terry seemed not to notice. "Yes, it's time for the game to begin."

PRESENT

Terry sat on her soft bed, trying to focus on Steve and what he was saying. She had two strange memories of a man named Varuchio, the name that she hated for some reason, and she couldn't figure out his connection to her.

"Terry, I used to work for you uncle," Steve said. "He made me do some evil things. I even held a teenager at gunpoint." Terry gave a short gasp. "I didn't do it willingly. The kid wasn't even shot. He managed to turn the gun back on me. But I have a question I need to ask you, like I told you before."

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to answer it," she said.

"That's fine, just give it your best shot," Terry nodded. "A man named Varuchio developed a virus in the game. It corrupted the minds of the players and put them into comatose. They almost died. Varuchio wanted a way for his virus to spread throughout "The World", that's where he got the idea to use you as the main spreader of the virus."

Terry had a look of horror on her face. "What did he do to me?"

"He directly inserted the virus into your profile to make you spread the virus." Steve began. "But something went wrong. You couldn't remember anything, and couldn't be controlled."

FLASHBACK

She screamed, and was suddenly surrounded by a harsh blue light. The light encased her, and she began to forget. She forgot everything, her friends, who she was, and only one dark name was burned into her head.

PRESENT

"But one player defied Varuchio with his team of friends. Together, they destroyed the virus and used you in the game as the ultimate vaccine. Every player in a coma woke up at that time. The player didn't want to do what he had to do to you to stop the virus, but if he knew that you were an actual person, he probably never would've been able to do it," said Steve.

"What did he do?" asked Terry.

"He'd found a weapon that let him drain the virus with an ability. His name was Ryuoku,"

FLASHBACK

TWO MINUTES LEFT BEFORE VIRUS STORM. REPEAT. TWO-

"I'm ready," she said quietly. As Ryuoku was about to raise his axe and end the nightmare, the girl pulled him into a hard hug, and she didn't want to let go. Soft tears trickled down her cheek, and onto Ryuoku's shoulder. The girl pushed away, after a while, and waited let him use the ability.

She screamed in pain, but slowly faded away. Ryuoku watched her go, and saw her no longer.

PRESENT

Terry's held fell into her hands. She was remembering things. They made no sense though. Only one thing she remembered seemed important though. Who was Varuchio?

"Now, are you ready for your question?" asked Steve.

"Sure," Terry said faintly.

"When everyone woke up, their lives returned to normal. So why can't you remember anything?" Steve demanded. Terry lifted her head, and stared blankly at him.

"I," started Terry. "I…don't know."

"That's the thing! You can't remember!" Steve was starting to get mad.

"It's just that," Terry said, beginning to grow unsure of everything. How could she be sure these were memories? "I don't know!"

"You need to know!" Steve practically yelled at her.

"WHY?!" screamed Terry. "WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?!"

"BECAUSE," yelled Steve. He stood up and glared at her. His glare slowly faded, and his face became filled with depression. "Because you only successfully infected one person, and they died. That person," He stopped, and Terry silently urged him to finish. "That person was my daughter."

Terry felt sick. Did she do this? Or did Varuchio, that evil man she was beginning to remember make her do this?

Brakes squealed outside as car pulled into the driveway.

"I should leave," said Steve as he turned his back to her room. "I'm sorry I went out of control like that. I just don't know if her consciousness is still alive in the game. Can you do me a favor?" Terry nodded. "Go to school tomorrow and try to learn as much as you can about a player who was called Belle."

Steve left her room, and walked down the stairs. He made a right through the kitchen, and left through the backdoor as Terry's parents walked in.

* * *

It was surprisingly easy, telling her parents that she wanted to go to school the next day. She brought it up while they were saying goodnight to her in her room. What was difficult was convincing them to _let_ her go.

"Did you remember things?" was Dave's first reaction. Kate slapped him in the back of the head.

"What he _means_," Kate glared at Dave. "Is do you think you'd be alright?"

"Yes," Terry responded. That wasn't a lie. She was starting to remember her class schedule. She couldn't remember all of it. Fifth period was still a mystery to her. All she knew was that she hated it, and it involved an old man with a boring voice. "Please?"

"Are you sure you really want to go?" asked Kate, ready to whack Dave again if he said something stupid.

"Yeah," said Terry.

"Then we'll see how you feel in the morning. Goodnight," She flicked off Terry's light without saying anything else. Dave sighed, and left Terry's room. Terry slowly fell asleep, and ignored the cat clawing at something.

* * *

"Is that her?" asked a man with blue hair. He looked around sixteen.

"Yea," responded a purple haired girl around the same age.

"Who are you?" Terry asked the crowd staring at her.

The purple haired girl gasped. Was Terry talking freaky to them?

"Ryuoku," he announced, "And this is Cheetra, Sharie, Kenshi, Tsukazi, Subaru, and Da-!"

These people, these strange people, were trying to talk to her. Why? Was she important to them? Maybe if she started listening to their jabbering again, she might find out why they bothered to talk to her.

"The virus… even leaked out of his mouth in the real world!" cried Tsukazi.

Now that was interesting. "Virus." she said.

"What?" asked the boy claiming to be Ryuoku.

"The virus was created by a man named Varuchio Zespugo. He lives in Japan and works for CC Corp. I can't…remember anymore." It was true. She couldn't remember anything else. The blue haired kid looked like he was about to say something else, but the ground seemed to disappear. She was falling, and blacked out before too long.

* * *

Terry bolted up in bed. What a strange dream. She rubbed her head, and thought. Was that dream another memory? But why would people look like characters from a…

"Game," whispered Terry. She looked over at the old dusty computer in the corner of her room. They said she was playing 'The World' when she passed out. Maybe…

"Terry? Are you up?"

It was Kate, and it was time for school.

Her school uniform still fit and Terry wasn't complaining, so Kate had no reason to keep her home. She picked up Terry's brown backpack, and handed it to her.

"I packed your lunch," Kate began, "And made sure everything was still in working order."

"Thank you," responded Terry. She turned around and left through the open door before Kate could find another reason to keep her home.

* * *

Steve was driving down the main highway. He yawned, and his eyes closed. Images of his daughter immediately flooded into his head.

"Daddy?"

Her voice seemed to flood into his head.

"Daddy, no! Open your eyes!"

Steve's eyes burst open in time to see a long trail of traffic that he was about to ram at sixty miles an hour. He slammed on his brakes. The smell of burning rubber filled his nostrils as he prayed that he wouldn't hit the car that was only a few feet away.

_Not gonna make it. _This thought raced through his mind over and over again until it became a blur with everything else. He felt the car slow itself down, and thought that he would be safe.

His car did hit the one in front of him, but only a little bump. The worst that happened to him was a thorough yelling at from the guy in front of him. He looked down and realized that he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. If he didn't hit the brakes, that crash could've been fatal.

He hit the eject button on his CD player in the car. He stared at the strange CD that was glistening in his hands. He'd found it at work, and had been trying to find a CD player to play it for the last week.

"Master Varuchio will have his revenge!"

A strange voice came from behind his car. He slipped the CD in his pocket, and looked in his rearview mirror. A large black van was going to slam into him at about seventy miles an hour.

Steve struggled to open his car door, but saw that he had stopped too close to the guardrail to get much more then a little fresh air. His world went black as his car was destroyed. The last thing he remembered was the airbag deploying.

* * *

The walk to her school was a strange one. Terry wasn't alone in her walk, but she might as well have been. Everyone avoided her. Some kid even went as far as hoping fences to walk through people's yards.

"Terry!"

An absurdly happy voice filled the air, and a girl with long blonde hair came running down the road to catch up to Terry. She had on the usual school uniform, only she had a purple top instead of white. Because she was an honor student, she could get away with it.

"Terry," said the girl as she caught up to her. "I've heard some horrible things happened to you. Did you really forget everything?" She took Terry's blank look as a yes. "Do you remember who I am?"

Slowly, images went back into Terry's head that she'd forgotten; and the name had a face. "Claire?" she asked.

"Yes!" shouted the girl. Suddenly, it dawned on Terry why they'd been such good friends. Both were outcasts. One because of her brains, and the other because of her antisocialism; together they were best friends. What people didn't know about Claire was that she hated school as much as anyone else. And she didn't really value her smarts.

"Well, since I found you," started Claire. "Want to walk to school together?"

"Uh, sure." Terry said quickly. She still felt like this was the first time she really met the girl, but Claire might know her schedule. At least the classes she'd forgotten. Maybe she'd remember why she wasn't so happy about English.

* * *

The hallways were incredibly clean for a public school. Claire joked that the janitor must really take his job seriously. Terry and Claire had to part ways in the front hall because of how advanced Claire was. She had given Terry a copy of her old schedule that she had made herself, and said that she'd she her later.

"What's first," Terry muttered as she pulled out her schedule. "Algebra one with Ms. Tainer," Sighing, she put her schedule back in her bag, and began the walk down the hall.

* * *

In each of Terry's classes she'd asked at least one person of they knew an online player named Belle. Five periods past without anyone knowing who she was talking about. Terry sighed as she waited for Claire to get her lunch.

"What's the matter?" Claire choked through a bite of her sandwich.

"Huh?" Terry looked up to see Claire holding half a sandwich in her mouth as she organized her bag next to her. "Oh, it's nothing really." Claire stopped what she was doing and stared at Terry. She let her sandwich drop to her tray and pushed her glasses up on her nose.

"Don't give me that 'oh it's nothing' deal." scolded Claire. "I know you better than anyone in this school and I know that when you say _that_, you are lying." Claire sighed. "It's the one thing I wanted you _not_ to remember." Terry stared blankly st Claire, and then decided that if Claire asked people too, then the odds would be higher of finding out information on Belle.

"Claire, do you know about a character named Belle who used to play 'The World'?" asked Terry.

"Hm," thought Claire. "Sounds familiar. Why?"

"Could you just do me a favor and as many people as you can about her?"

"Just tell me why!" argued Claire. Terry stared for a second. She didn't remember Claire being so quick to argue.

"_Please_?" asked Terry. "I'll tell you later."

"Fine," Claire said finally. She choked down another huge bite of her sandwich and smiled. "Sorry 'bout being all angry like that. I guess I didn't sleep well last night."

The bell echoed through the halls, and Terry left for English, according to her schedule.

* * *

To her surprise, Claire didn't part ways with her at all. She went with Terry to English. She soon found out why she'd hated this class so much. It was nice to be in a class with Claire, but the teacher talked in a dull voice that put everyone to sleep. Everyone, that is, except for Claire, who hastily took notes on everything he said.

No one they asked there could help them. Terry was beginning to get depressed that no one would know who she was talking about. Belle would remain a mystery to her for a while.

* * *

Terry was practically counting down the minutes until the bell to leave rang. She sighed, and looked out the window. She saw an ambulance flashing on the highway. It was probably nothing that mattered to her, but she still felt bad for the person being placed in the back of it.

Terry had no idea that Steve was the one in the ambulance as it drove off to the hospital for emergency care. He was in critical condition.

FLASHBACK

"This computer is awesome!" exclaimed Terry as Varuchio booted it up. That took about five seconds.

"Ready to play the game?" asked Varuchio.

"Yeah!" shouted Terry out of joy. She loved "The World", and she knew this was going to be awesome.

No sooner had she just logged in when a horrible voice whispered "Surprise," in her ear. Varuchio tapped a switch on the computer, and Terry screamed.

END

Again, sorry about the late update. Please review.


	3. Mail

You wouldn't believe how sorry I am that it's this late. If any even still remembers what this is, I'm trying my best to keep it updated, but I'm not doing so good. Really sorry people.

Mail

It was raining out. The clouds had thundered in around two P.M. and caused a deep darkness. The darkness caused the highway streetlights to flicker on, which illuminated the scene bellow.

"Get him out! Hurry up!" screeched the head paramedic. "He's bleeding out!"

Steve Tonsay Barely heard the words. The only thing keeping him conscious was how much focus it took to keep hold of the CD in his pocket. He knew he was losing a lot of blood and fast. He had to think about something, _anything_ to keep himself focused.

_What about the CD?_ his mind offered.

"What about it?" he muttered, summoning all of his strength to talk.

_Why wouldn't your car, hell, _any_ CD player play it?_

"How should _I_ know?"

_You found it at your workplace?_

"So?"

_Where?_

"I don't know,"

_Think._

"In my office?"

_No._

"Then where?" Steve groaned as a huge surge of pain coursed through him.

"He's getting worse!" yelled the paramedic over the rainstorm. "Get…him…OUT!"

_Think, think, think! Time is running out!_

"I…don't…know…," Every word was becoming an effort.

_In someone else's office, maybe?_

"Someone…else's?"

_Your…_

"Boss!" he said quickly. "It came from that girl's uncle's office!"

_Exactly._

"So maybe it's…"

_A computer disc?_

"That girl," thought Steve. "She doesn't even know that Varuchio's her uncle."

Steve gasped. A sharp pain in his chest was rising. His world was starting to fade. Lighting flashed, and thunder boomed, and Steve remembered nothing else.

* * *

Terry sat in her room doing the little homework that her teachers were confident in giving her. They were treating her even more different than before, and Terry didn't like it.

She heard the phone ring, and saw the cat pawing at her door to get out. Terry smiled, and reached down to pick up the small cat. She brushed the white fur on its stomach with her fingertips. Smiling as it began to purr, she turned it over and began to stroke its back. The cat looked up at her, and back to the door.

"Alright," whispered Terry. She pried her door open, and let the cat jump out of her arms. It walked out into the hall and down the steps towards her kitchen. Terry was about to close the door when she heard Kate call.

"Pick up the phone in your room!" called Kate. "It's Claire!"

Terry muttered that she got it, and looked around her room quickly for a phone that was supposed to be there. She found it in a corner on an awkwardly positioned table. She picked it up, and greeted Claire.

"Terry!" shouted the voice on the other side of the line.

"Ow," whispered Terry as she rubbed her left ear. She switched the side that the phone was on, and let Claire finish.

"I just found out about Belle!"

"Oh?" asked Terry, slightly more interested.

"She stuck a message on the message board of "The World"!"

"What does it say?" asked an interested Terry.

"Maybe it'd be better if you came over here," said Claire.

"_Achoo,"_

A sneeze sounded on the phone.

"Did you just sneeze?" asked Terry.

"No," responded Claire. "I thought _you_ did."

"Oh," said Terry. "It must have been the wind."

Terry knew it wasn't the wind. She already thought of a way to find out who was listening on the other phone of the house.

"Can you hold on a second, Claire? I have to use…the_ bathroom_."

She softly set the phone down on the table. She pushed open her door, and walked towards the bathroom. She closed the door to it, making sure it could be heard in the kitchen. Then she crept down the stares, and peered around the corner.

Terry stared awe struck at Kate who was holding the other phone.

"_Kate_!" screeched Terry. Kate looked up in shock as Terry stared at her.

"Uh…n-no. I'm not interested in changing my long distance, thank you." she attempted hit the off button, but pushed the button labeled _3_ on the phone. She put it down on the counter, and stared nervously back at Terry.

"How could you?" Terry demanded.

"I…I," stammered Kate.

"Just because I forget a couple of things, I can't have a conversation?"

"It's not that…" Terry cut her off.

"What if it was personal?

"Well, it wasn't, so…"

"So nothing!" stormed Terry. "I'm going over Claire's house!" she threw open the front door, and ran through the rain.

"Oh, Terry," whispered Kate. Then she thought. "I really blew her trust in me, didn't I?" she muttered as the screen at the front door flapped open and closed uselessly.

* * *

Claire had hung up the phone seconds after she heard Terry storm out of her house. Now she was waiting for her to show up at her house. Maybe telling the mail she found under Belle's account would help Terry focus on something else.

The doorbell rang, and Claire went to open it. Terry stormed in, clearly shaken up, but when she looked up at Claire, she wore a smile.

"Now, you were telling me something about the message boards?" Terry said.

"Uh, yeah," Claire decided not to pry on Terry's life. She turned towards her computer, and pulled up two chairs. She motioned at the screen. "The World's" message board was showing. "Right here," Claire tapped the computer screen. Terry stared in confusion at the bunch of letters. It looked like Belle just leaned on the keyboard when she posted this. Claire looked over at Terry.

"I think she was infected with that virus," Claire said. Terry froze.

"How would you know about the virus?" Terry asked.

"Who doesn't?" Claire responded. "It was all over the message boards and CC Corp. didn't do the best job covering it up." Terry shoved her suspicions aside and focused on the problem at hand.

"Anyway. Why do you say that she was infected?" Terry asked.

"They said," began Claire, pushing her glasses up a little. "That when the virus infects the player, an extreme pain courses through the body. Maybe when she was infected, her real body clicked around 'till she reached the message board, and then maybe she collapsed on the keyboard. That would post this illegible mess."

"So," whispered Terry to herself. "I made her feel that pain?"

"Hm?" asked Claire, not understanding what Terry said. She'd said it so quietly, that there was no way for her to hear it.

"Oh," Terry said, looking up. "N-nothing." Claire shrugged it off, and clicked off of "The World".

"Now," began Claire as she clicked open a login screen. "This is where I learned a lot more." She typed in the name Belle, and began typing furiously at her keyboard. She shortly gained access to Belle's account.

"How'd you _do_ that?" asked Terry.

"You still haven't remembered everything I told you, huh?" Claire said smiling. "I'm a computer _genius_." Terry smiled faintly, and then looked at the long list of mail that Claire had pulled up.

"Wow. Fifty-six new messages," sighed Terry.

"I know," Claire agreed that it was shocking. "This tells us around the time that she was infected." She clicked open the earliest unread mail. It was dated during the time that Terry was unconscious. Terry felt a shiver go down her spine.

"And this is the message that confused me the most," Claire said as the clicked open another mail.

"It's…it's all ones and zeros!" exclaimed Terry.

"I think it's a computer code, but I don't know what it is _exactly_," Claire said.

A new mail flashed. Claire clicked it open out of curiosity.

Sender: Belle Subject: Help…me…

:H)lp…me…plese…! I…cn'(…(e! Hl me pl#! I ca&'

s! P(AS! && & & & ! (&(! #….

"Most of it's illegible, but I think it's saying 'help me'," Claire said.

"It's from Belle! That means she's alive!" exclaimed Terry. "I have to tell Steve!"

"Wait," said Claire as Terry went to get up. "Steve Tonsay? Dark hair, average build, and black eyes?"

"Uh, yeah. That sounds right. Do you know him?" asked Terry.

"He's in the hospital," Claire said, and continued at Terry's look of horror. "His car was rammed by a truck. It was on the news."

"I have to get there, then! Claire, please do me a favor. Try to analyze what that code is under Belle's mail, and don't tell my mom where I went!"

Claire nodded, and watched her friend charge out the door. Why was she still acting so strange? Was she really feeling better? Claire sighed, and went to work on the code.

* * *

The hospital was quiet until Terry went charging in. She ran up to the nurses' station.

"Please," Terry panted. "What room is Steve Tonsay in?"

"Are you family?" asked the nurse.

"Uh, sure! Just, what room is he in?"

"Room 112 down the hall," the nurse answered politely.

Terry ran through the double doors, and burst into room 112. Steve was propped up by two pillows and watching TV. He was fine. The only things that terry could see wrong was a bandaged he and arm in a sling.

"Terry?" he asked. "What is it?"

"I found out information on Belle," Terry wheezed.

"What?" demanded Steve, suddenly anxious for information.

"She's still alive in "The World"!" Terry said.

"That game, huh?" Steve closed his eyes.

"What's wrong?" asked Terry.

"Terry," Steve started. "I think that the person in the truck behind me was after this," He pulled out a shimmering computer disc from under his pillows.

* * *

"Mas…ter…Va…ru…chi…o…," moaned a voice outside the hospital, standing in the rain. "Must…retrieve…his…work." It threw open a fuse box, and cut a wire.

"Just take it," Steve began. "And guard it with everything you have." Terry nodded at the strange request, but if the enemy really was after the disc, she might be better off holding on to it.

As soon as she touched the disc, the lights went out, and Terry saw nothing.

FLASHBACK

Terry was logging into "The World". It was a joyous feeling, although you can't really feel anything in a game. Then she felt her uncle Varuchio's hands clasp her shoulders.

"Surprise," he whispered.

Her joyous fall turned into one from hell. The sides of the tunnel glowed red briefly, but soon all turned pitch black.

She was falling, falling down a tunnel of darkness. She screamed, but it seemed to go unanswered. Her eyes were pinched shut, but if they weren't, she wouldn't have known the difference.

A cruel voice laughed somewhere, and she was suddenly surrounded by a harsh blue light. The light encased her, and she began to forget. She forgot everything, her friends, who she was, and only one dark name was burned into her head. A name for evil. Varuchio. Her uncle was evil.

END

Again, very sorry about the extremely late update. Just a to let anyone who still might be reading know, the next chapter's the last, then I start the true sequel. Please review.


	4. Blackout

Now, I know that it may seem like this shouldn't be the last chapter, and it's not. After planning, I found out I can make at _least_ two more chapters counting this one.

Guess I'll answer reviews too:

Kiojin: They might show up, but only in their real life forms. Characters from VIRUS will show up in the next book though. I haven't decided which.

Helbaworshipper: You have to be the only person who's stuck with the story through my unnecessarily long updates. Thanks.

Blackout

Terry couldn't see anything, and she felt numb. Was what she just remembered true? Was that horrible man, Varuchio, her uncle? How couldn't she put two and two together? She was so stupid. Her thoughts disrupted her concentration, and she dropped the slender disc in her hands.

The emergency lights kicked on. A reddish glow flowed throughout the room, giving a creepy Alfred Hitchcock feel to it. She looked at the floor. She saw with horror the CD rolling along the hard floor on a smooth side; rolling right towards the heating vent on the floor.

Terry made a dive for it, but felt only coldness and a sharp pain course through her elbow as her fingers grasped air. Her stomach felt like it jumped off a cliff when the CD fell into the vent, and slipped through the grates.

"Dammit," she growled to herself. She looked at the CD lying at the bottom of the air duct. She pulled off the lid, and reached down for it.

Terry heard a horrible sound, and gasped when the vent collapsed. All she could do was watch the disc fall into the dark abyss.

"Please tell me what I think happened didn't happen?" groaned Steve, sitting up to get a better view. Terry was thinking of a way to tell him when the intercom crackled to life, and an obnoxiously loud voice blared through it.

"This hospital is know under control of the Society to Restore His Work. The upper levels have been left with power to keep those on life support systems alive. All those able to leave should to avoid injury. We don't want to have to kill more than _two_ people."

"The S-R-H-W?" Terry asked, not expecting an answer. To her surprise, Steve responded.

"Those bastards tried to kill me," he growled.

"How do you…?" Terry started, but stopped at Steve's look.

"Those people will do _anything_ to get their 'master's' work. Their master was Varuchio," Steve whispered. Trying to keep his voice low. "I don't know _exactly_ what's on it, but I know it's their last hope if continuing Varuchio's work."

Terry stared. This group had to be chasing Steve for a good while in order for him to know this much about them.

"You go and grab that disc from the basement. That's were the floor duct would have broken open to. Be careful not to get caught. I'll be there as soon as I can," Steve finished, and started to pull himself up.

A loud moan of pain echoed through the room. Terry looked up to see the full extent of Steve's injuries. Steve's abdomen was wrapped in many layers of bandage, and some blood had still seeped through.

"Steve, are you-?" she was cut off with a wave of Steve's hand.

"Just hurry," he growled. "I'd rather chance this," he motioned to his gut. "Then be caught by those psychotic freaks." Terry nodded, and ran out into the glowing red from the emergency lights hall.

* * *

The hall had a few blind spots where Terry saw nothing but complete and total darkness. She really didn't like the fact that those freaks could be anywhere in the halls, especially when they were specifically after Steve and her.

The hall seemed excessively long. She made her way through the sharp turns of the hospital and through the poorly light hallways. Once she saw something that made her jump, but it just turned out to be her shadow. She nearly collapsed with relief when she saw the door leading to the stairwell.

Terry quietly pushed the door open and looked around. To her left was a staircase leading up to the second level; right in front of her was another door labeled "Basement". She went for the doorknob, and felt her heart stop as she noticed the sign hanging from it.

**Keep door locked at all times! The file storage room is down here. To retrieve key, ask receptionist at the 3rd floor service desk.**

She tried uselessly to open the door, but the lock refused to even shake. Terry heard herself give a moan of despair, and prepared herself for what was up two floors.

* * *

The third floor still had power, but only because it was where the people in critical care were kept. They didn't want any deaths on their hands besides that of the little brat's and their former ally.

The guard laughed at himself. How could he call that worm their _former ally_? He never wanted in on Master Varuchio's plans. As soon as he found out what they were, he up and quit!

"Help me. _Please_!" shrieked the nurse he was keeping at the desk. She was obviously terrified. Maybe she thought he was going to kill her?

"Now, now," the guard said, patting her on the shoulder. "You'll get to leave as soon as you tell us what room Steve's in and where you keep your files. It'd also be nice if you knew if a little girl was here too." The nurse stared at him for a short while, before yelling again.

"How am I supposed to know if a little girl's here, you'll need a key for the basement, and Steve _what_?"

"Well, at least give me the key," growled the guard.

"Ow!"

"What?" the guard asked no one. He looked around. "Stupid hospital vents makin' weird noises. Now, where's that key?"

"It should be-!" the nurse looked under the station. "Uh,"

" 'Uh' what?" demanded the guard.

"The, uh, key's gone," muttered the nurse. "One of the doctors must have left with it in their pocket." Her eyes occasionally darted up to the guards face and back down to the station counter.

"Ugh, this is aggravating," growled the guard. "I'm going the bathroom. _Don't move_!" The nurse watched him walk out of sight, and she heard the _click_ of the bathroom door locking.

" 'Don't move!'" mocked the nurse. "Screw that," She pushed herself up from the desk and ran towards the stares.

* * *

Terry stuffed the key into the lock, pushed open the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She was breathing heavily, and rubbing her forehead. A throbbing pain was pulsating through her head. She hit it kind of hard. How she got back without being caught, she'll never know. Maybe that guard was just stupid.

FLASHBACK

Terry carefully pushed the third floor door open. The guard up there from the SHRW was the only one there, and he was distracted trying to get information out of the nurse. Terry could see the key shining in the light under the desk. She could get it from the other side of the counter without anyone noticing.

She crept into a patient's room, remembering that all the rooms had connecting doors. She went through about three rooms (two out of which were, thankfully, empty) and carefully walked out into the hall. The key was only a few feet away. She dropped on to her hands and knees and continued towards the key.

"You'll get to leave as soon as you tell us what room Steve's in and where you keep your files. It'd also be nice if you knew if a little girl was here too."

Terry shuddered. The guy was talking about her, too. She crept a little closer, and was able to grab the key. She quickly ran through the three rooms again, and walked as quickly as she could to get down to the basement. She went to push open the door to the stairs, grinning at her success, when the door stopped short, and she hit her forehead.

"Ow," she groaned, before realizing what she'd done. She slowly looked over her shoulder.

"What?" muttered the guard. He briefly looked around, but was too stupid to see her holding open the door. "Stupid hospital vents makin' weird noises. Now, where's that key?"

Terry sighed with relief, and ran downstairs.

PRESENT

Terry walked through the dark basement, trying to find the disc. The lights were refusing to work as best they could, and Terry was forced to stumble almost blindly through a barely lit and cold room.

She pushed a couple of boxes out of her way as she traveled, and occasionally jumped at the regular squeaking of what Terry could only guess as the pipes. Finally, she thought she saw a shimmer in the dim light.

Terry looked through a rather large hole that was in the wall dividing the now obviously two-roomed basement and saw that shimmer again. To her relief, it was the CD.

Terry looked for a door to get in the room, for the hole was too small for her to fit through. Just to her left in the over cluttered basement she saw a greenish door. A sign was hanging from it that read:

**Keep out! Authorized personnel only!**

Terry sighed, thinking it would be locked too, but smiled faintly at the broken padlock hanging from the door.

"Where would I be if someone in this hospital followed the rules?" she asked herself, and pushed open the door.

Thunder clapped, and it rained even harder then before in the cool night.

* * *

Claire stared blankly at her computer screen, refusing to believe what she had found. She'd tried running the program, and got a computer virus. It was controlled, and it tried to delete her files before she deleted it. That virus had the same makeup of the one that had tried to destroy "The World". The fatal virus' code was flashing under Belle's account.

* * *

Terry bent over to pick up the CD, and saw a dusty folder. It was only a few feet away from the CD, and something about it seemed to call to her. She crammed the CD into her pocket, and picked up the file.

In the upper right corner, it was labeled: **Hiyaki, Tsung / Patient file / CLASSIFIED: Unsolved cause of death. **Curiously, Terry opened the dusty file. She gave a small whistle. The file was nine years old. She pulled out the pieces of paper inside, and began to read.

_Patients name: Tsung Hiyaki. Gender: Male Family: Wife and child_

_Family names: Shaikya Hiyaki and Ryu Hiyaki; respectively._

_Employment: CC Corporation, Varuchio Zespugo's office._

_It is believed that the patient had been infected with some type of virus. Recollection of the patient revealed that he had walked in on someone working on a computer virus. When that person saw the patient, they bound him to a chair, and accessed the online game "The World". The patient's recollection after that is hazy._

_Symptoms included involuntary twitching of the body, eyes entirely blue, and brief moments of unconsciousness. His dying words to his son were as follows: _I need you, to save "The World," and our world. You will understand, son. _What he meant is still unclear as is the cause of death. _

The other sheets of paper were nothing but graphs and data, and although it would have fascinated Claire, Terry didn't much care. She folded the file absent mindedly, and slid it into her other pocket. She turned towards the door, and froze. The guard from the third floor was standing at the only exit to the small room.

"Be a nice little girl, and hand over that file and CD and prepare to _die_ for what you did to Master Varuchio's plans!" he growled. He pulled out a gun, and showed it off threateningly.

Terry was frozen with fear, and it was while she was so afraid, that she began to remember. A huge bunch of words and moment flashed through her head. She remembered everything.

Who Ryuoku was, what the virus in "The World" did, and that Kate and Dave really were her parents. It was all useless though. She was going to die. That's what she thought until she heard the banging sound of metal. The guard in front of her passed out, and there stood Steve holding a metal folding chair.

"You know how hard it is to find you in this darkness?" he said with a grin. Terry smiled back, but Steve's grin turned into a frown. "We'd better hurry out of here. I hear they're sending in the big one behind this whole cult, and he's packing fire power."

END

Please review! Thanks for reading!


	5. Cult

Thanks for reviewing. I _think_ it might be only two more chapters. Or three. I know how it ends, but I'm not entirely sure how the story will work out. Work with me here!

Cult

With Terry leading, the two of them, Terry and Steve, tried there hardest to get out of the dark hallways of the hospital. Terry's nerves were on end, and the fact that they had to stop every now and then to let Steve catch his breath wasn't helping. What also worried her was what Steve had said earlier. The leader of the cult dedicated to restoring Varuchio's work? That didn't sound like someone she wanted to meet.

Terry was waiting for Steve to catch his breath when she heard it for the first time. It was a gentle ticking. So soft and so natural that Terry had just considered it to be part of the hospital.

"Why are we stopped?" asked Steve. "What's wrong?"

"That," responded Terry. Steve stared at her, confused.

"What?" Steve questioned.

"Shh!" demanded Terry.

"I'm confused," muttered Steve.

"Just listen!" growled Terry.

They both stood there for a while in silence, listening to the noises around. The gentle hum of the emergency lights, the buzzing of the wall clock, and the occasional dripping sound coming from the restrooms just ahead of them. It was not too long before Steve heard it too.

"That ticking?" asked Steve.

"Yeah," answered Terry. "Do you know where it's coming from?"

"Sounds like it's from the janitors closet," Steve responded. He walked a few feet towards the partially closed closet towards their left. He opened the door, and froze.

"Shit," he muttered. "Terry?" he whispered. "How fast can you run?"

"An average speed, why?" Terry inquired.

"Don't get too scared, but there's a bomb in here,"

"What?"

"That damn hypocrite of an organization," growled Steve. "They claim they don't want anyone to get hurt, yet they wire a time bomb?"

Terry felt the color drain out of her face. Was Steve being serious? Was the ticking really a bomb?

"I want you to run out of this place," Steve began. "And hide behind some cars or something. Make sure you're a good distance away."

"What-!"

"Just go!" Steve cut off, and Terry ran.

* * *

Steve watched Terry go, and focused on the bomb. He couldn't let all the people in this hospital die. He had to do something to stop this. He looked down at the mass of wires attached to the ominous dynamite. He looked at the clock mounted on it.

"Five minutes," he watched it count down. "Perfect,"

Carefully, he picked up the bomb, and walked towards the exit, only twenty yards, or so. He was careful not to pull on any of the wires, and thought. A small swamp was towards the left of the hospital, and that was where he'd go.

* * *

Terry shoved open the doors, not realizing that the exit was so close to the bomb. She ran as hard as she could towards the street that was so far away. She didn't stop running until she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Steve was coming out of the hospital, holding the bomb.

"What…" she stared idly for a few seconds, before realizing what Steve was going to do. He was heading towards the swamp.

"No!" she shrieked. "Steve, don't!" She turned and started running towards him.

* * *

Steve was a good distance from the hospital now. He thought about things. He thought about the disc, the cult, and his Terry. Especially his daughter. It was strange; how he remembered everything they did together just then. He thought for a minute, more, and watched the clock strike the last ten seconds.

"Terry," he started. "I'm sorry I got you involved."

Seven seconds left.

"Or maybe… you already were. And please,"

Four seconds left.

"Set my daughter free… from "The World","

Three seconds left.

"Goodbye, and… I'm sorry,"

One second left.

"Sorry for everything."

* * *

Terry ran as fast as she could, but didn't reach Steve in time. She heard a loud beep, and saw a burst of flames. Steve was gone. All that remained was a burning hole in the ground.

"Noooo!" cried Terry. She felt her legs give out under her, and she collapsed onto her knees. "Steve!"

Terry felt hot tears sting her eyes, and slide down her cheeks. She felt a drop of water fall from the sky, and remembered it had been raining the whole time. Terry was so caught up in the moment that she'd forgotten the weather outside. Suddenly it grew all to obvious. She grew cold.

Terry leaned forward, and landed on her hands. She began crawling towards the burned earth as the fire slowly went out. It had been a huge bomb. Terry was surprised that she hadn't been caught in it. After only a few seconds of crawling, she felt the scorched earth. In mere seconds she reached the center, and sat down.

"You're really dead, aren't you?" she asked no one. She felt tired.

All Terry wanted to do then was sleep, and, for once, she actually did. There were no nightmares, and there was nothing to disturb her. She drifted off during the sound of and ambulance coming. Or police car. She didn't care. She didn't give a damn if it was her mother who picked her up right then. She was asleep, and didn't care anymore.

* * *

_I can't see…_

_Why?_

_There's no light…_

_Then you should just admit your death…_

_What…?_

_You gave up. You let them win…_

_Who…?_

_The cult…_

_What cult…?_

_The one that built the bomb that killed you…_

_I'm not dead…_

_Are you sure…?_

_Yes…_

_You gave up once Steve died…_

_I did…?_

_Yes…_

_Then where am I…?_

_Where _aren't_ you…?_

_In reality…_

_This is you sub-conscious mind. Everything here is you._

_What? I'm in…me?_

A blinding light came from somewhere, and Terry was back in her bedroom; only, it wasn't her room. Everything was upside-down. She looked around, and saw herself. The strange thing was, that her double had long dirty hair, rags for cloths, and looked like a character from "The World,"

"That's right," said the double. "You're in you."

"My head hurts," muttered Terry.

"It should," responded the double. "You breathed in some serious fumes. That bomb Steve saved the hospital from let out an odorless toxic gas in a twenty foot radius, and you crawled right into the center of it."

"I'm dead!" exclaimed Terry.

"No," responded the double. "But you will be if you don't get control of yourself."

"What are you talking about?"

"You gave up."

"I did?"

"You gave up on yourself."

"I did."

"You can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because your body is letting the gas win in the real world. If you don't believe you can stop this group, then you _are_ going to die."

"What's the point?"

"Does Claire mean anything?"

"What about her?"

"They know you were friends with her. The cult will try and get information from her."

"Would they kill her!"

"Only if she doesn't give them the information they want, and she doesn't know it."

"I'm not letting them kill two friends!"

"Then fight!"

"I will!" Terry grew confident. "I will stop them. I will stop them. I will stop them!"

She screamed the last set of words, and woke up.

* * *

"Are you all right?" asked a paramedic, shining a light into Terry's eyes.

Terry woke up around ten minutes ago. Turned out that she woke up just as a paramedic picked her up. They wanted the transfer her to another hospital, but Terry refused, and until they found something wrong with her, they couldn't take her there.

"Yes," responded Terry.

"Again," started the paramedic. "I think-."

"That I should go to a hospital," growled Terry. "Well, not now, and not tonight. I have another place I have to get to before I can do anything."

"Are you going home?"

Terry thought a minute. This guy looked like the type who would call her parents if she even coughed strangely, so she lied.

"Yes," began Terry. "I don't live to far,"

"And you're alright to walk?"

"Yes,"

The paramedic shrugged, and let her go.

"You're just gonna let her go?" demanded another paramedic.

"Yup," said the one who examined Terry. "Nothin' strange about her except for those entirely blue eyes."

* * *

Terry ran down the streets towards Claire's house. It was only after she stopped to take a breath that she noticed a van that had been following her for the past three blocks. Terry started to walk again. She made a left onto Claire's road, and started to get scared when the van turned left too.

Terry began to run, and heard the van door slide open.

"Don't let her get away!" shouted a man.

Terry ran as fast as she could, and ran up Claire's driveway. She rang Claire's doorbell, and knocked violently on her door.

Terry felt a hard blow to her head, and passed out. Two men carried her into the van, and drove off as Claire opened her door.

Claire adjusted her glasses, and looked down to see a CD and a folder. They must had fallen out of the punk who just knocked on her door's pocket. She took them into her house, and closed the door.

* * *

Terry woke up with a throbbing headache. She looked at her surroundings. She was in an old jail cell. It was large in size with only a cement hallway as her view through her cell bars. An orange light lit up her space, and an intercom crackled to life.

"Hello, Terry," crackled a voice. "Good to see you awake. It's time you paid for what you did to our master Varuchio's plans. Make yourself at home, you're not going anywhere for a long time."

END

Okay! One or two more chapters after this one. Thanks for waiting. Please review!


	6. Reunion

Thanks for reviewing, and I know the lateness thing is getting old, but I don't have any way to type at home! Work with me, here!

Reunion

Terry stared out her cell. The hallways were disgustingly stained and cracked with remains of tattered cloths on the floor. Terry tore her gaze away and looked around her cell. There was a slab of stone hanging from the wall by chain link, a horrifying looking toilet in the corner, and rust and decay covering the warehouse-like ceiling. Oh so much more of a happy environment then the halls.

How did she get in this mess? How did she end up sitting in a jail cell waiting for those freaks to return to torture information out of her? Why was _she_ the one who had even been put in that stupid game with the virus? She didn't ask for it! She didn't want it!

She sat down on the floor, hugging her knees, and dropped her head on her knees. Why did her uncle have to have been so psychotic? Was she going to die I this cell? Were her parents going to just forget about her the way Terry couldn't remember them?

_Kate_

"Oh no," Terry whispered. She left her actual mother upset and shocked when she'd left the house. Was she crying now? Thinking that her own daughter hated her? Would she grow to hate Terry?

"I can't be thinking about this," muttered Terry. "I _have_ to get out of here,"

Terry stood up, and walked toward the entrance her cell. To the left of her bars was a plain wall with a large crack running down the middle. To her left was a long hallway with other cells.

Terry heard footsteps. She backed up a few paces, and then thought up a plan to escape, judging that they didn't take her to some room. Only a few seconds after Terry backed up again, a strange man walked up to her cell door holding a tray of food.

"Here ya go, ya little snot. Food to make sure you don't die 'till we want ya to," said the man. He fumbled with keys, and opened her cell door. Terry simply stared as he placed the tray on her bed. As soon as he turned around, she put her plan into action.

She walked as quietly as she could towards the tray, and dumped the food on her plate onto the tray. No big waste. They probably poisoned it anyway.

Just as the man was closing the door, she stood the plate on its side between the door and the wall. It stopped the door from closing all the way like she'd hoped, and the man was to busy muttering to himself to notice.

"Lousy no good…makin' me have ta feed this brat…" he muttered. He jammed a key in the lock and was happy with the clicking sound it made. He shoved the keys back in his pocket, and walked down the hall. Terry waited a few minutes before grinning broadly.

"Good thing there as stupid here as they were in the hospital," Terry whispered, and pulled open the cell door.

* * *

The man came around the corner and into view again muttering to himself. A boy in a prison cell grinned broadly.

"Hey, genius, is feedin' the prisoners all you could amount to?" jeered the teen.

"You'd best shut up if ya want to avoid a beaten!" growled the man. "I already fed the other brat and I was planning on goin to sleep."

"Just like a man of such _genius_ as yourself to be sleeping on the job," said the teen, grinning at the man and holding onto the cell bars.

"You are dead now, ya little punk!" he whipped out his keys and unlocked the cell. He walked in, dropping the keys on the ground, and the boy pretended to be scared.

"No! Don't hit me!" pleaded the teen.

"To late, ya punk!" He walked towards the kid as he backed towards the cell wall. One swift movement of his fist, and the boy was on the floor with the wind knocked out of him. "Serves ya right, punk."

"No, serves you right for being stupid enough to come in here," muttered the boy. He rolled to his back and jumped on his feet. He ran towards the exit of the cell and closed it behind him before the man even knew what had happened. The food-man ran up to the bars and started to yell.

"Let me out of here right know, you little brat!" The boy rubbed his stomach.

"You know what?" he began. "I don't think I will. That punch hurt, believe it or not! Oh," he paused, and picked up the food-man's keys. "Mind if I borrow these? It shouldn't be too much to ask since you did, after all, kidnap me and stuff me in some cell, demanding information."

"You little…damn you!" growled the man.

"Oh yeah, before I leave," started the teen. "I noticed you stopped saying 'ya' instead of 'you'. Maybe next time you choose a 'tough guy' accent, try to remember to keep it up, okay?"

The teen walked down the hall as the man yelled at him. He had to grab that girl they dragged in here earlier before he could leave. Ryu wasn't the type that left innocent people in a cell to die.

* * *

Terry walked out if the prison cell, smiling to herself at her success.

_I can't believe I pulled that off! _Terry thought. _I'm a genius! I'll give Claire a run for her money!_

_Don't get so cocky, _growled another voice. _That guard was an idiot. You need to keep focusing on the task at hand anyway._

Terry frowned, and looked over at her food piled on the tray. Her stomach growled, and she remembered that the last thing she ate was a bag of cheese puffs on the way home from school.

"Damn, I'm hungry," she muttered. "But I can't eat _that_ mess. There's gotta be a vending machine or something up a couple of floors. Judging I can find one before I'm caught again."

"Talking to yourself isn't healthy," commented a voice coming down the hall. "And neither is being that negative."

"Crap," Terry whispered. Someone found her already? The footsteps grew closer, and a figure walked into the light.

The voice belonged to a teenager, around the age of fifteen. He was tall, and looked familiar, but Terry couldn't place him. He wore a navy blue t-shirt and a baggy pair of black jeans. A chain linked from one of his belt loops to an unseen wallet in his back pocket. Terry stared in surprise, and so did this kid standing in front of her.

"Terry?" asked the kid. "Is that you?"

"Do I… know you?" asked Terry. Now she was confused.

"You really are her," the boy smiled. "I know you wouldn't know what I look like. My profile _was_ kind of different, and I haven't had a chance to spike my hair in this jail, but I'm honestly surprised you don't remember my voice.

Terry stared for a few minutes, and he eyes widened. "R-Ryuoku?"

"Mm-hm," started Ryu. "Only here," here motioned around. "I'm just plain Ryu."

Terry stared for a few minutes, and her eyes began to water. He was, after all, the one who had saved her life from that game.

FLASHBACK

FIVE MINUTES UNTIL VIRUS STORM. REPEAT. FIVE-

Terry listened to the voice, and then turned her attention towards Ryuoku. His blue hair sparkled in light from sweat. He was obviously nervous about what he had to do to save the earth.

Terry watched as Ryuoku observed his surroundings and found the capsule that had once been used to hold Tsukasa. Now it was Terry's turn to stand in the remains of it. Ryuoku helped Terry step into the capsule.

"Virus-," began Ryuoku.

"Wait!" Terry cried.

"What is it?" asked Ryuoku.

"What'll happen to me when this happens?" she asked.

THREE MINUTES LEFT BEFORE VIRUS STORM. REPEAT. THREE-

"I'm not sure," Ryuoku said. He looked like he was trying to stay calm, but he was clearly destroying himself inside. He didn't know whether or not Terry was a real person, and Terry knew he would have trouble telling her that she would just disappear forever.

TWO MINUTES LEFT BEFORE VIRUS STORM. REPEAT. TWO-

"I'm ready," Terry said quietly. As Ryuoku was about to raise his axe and end the nightmare, she pulled him into a hard hug, and she didn't want to let go. Soft tears trickled down her cheek, and onto Ryuoku's shoulder. Reluctantly, she pushed Ryuoku away, and closed her eyes.

"Virus Drain!" shouted Ryuoku.

An extreme pain coursed through her body, and everything turned white. The last thing she saw was Ryuoku standing in front of the capsule.

PRESENT

"Ryu," Terry whispered. She ran towards him, and pulled him into a hug.

* * *

Terry let go after a few minutes, feeling embarrassed, and looked at her feet.

"I never got to thank you," Terry said.

"For what?" asked Ryu.

"You saved my life," Terry began. "I'd still be in that game if it hadn't been for you."

"Don't mention it," grinned Ryu.

"So," Terry started. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah,"

"Even Kenshi?"

"Yeah," Ryu started. "If you don't believe me you can ask him online." Terry looked surprised.

"You mean in… "The World"?"

"Why not? Now that we know you're okay, you can make a new profile, and we can all play the game again. Tsukazi and Dain can even hack the Japanese server from America and play with us." Terry smiled.

"I'd like that," she whispered. Then her eyes widened. "Why are you here?"

"You should know," Ryu began. "I was the one who stopped 'their master's' work. They wanted to know how I did it so that once they found that damn computer disc they're always talking about they can change the virus so that it can be immune to everything."

"Shouldn't we get out of here?"

"Yup, let's go," Ryu smiled at her, and led the way towards the exiting stairs.

END

Please review, thanks! And I think that the next chapter might be the last. But if it is, it's going to be extremely long. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!


	7. SECRETS

There really is no point in trying to explain why I took this long to update and how sorry I am that this did take so long, especially on the last chapter. You could kind of think of it as an early season finale before the actual season finale. Anyway, if anyone even does read this, enjoy the last chapter of this, and shortly I'll have the actual sequel out. Thanks for waiting if you did.

By the way, thank youfor the recent reviews on my first .hack story.

SECRETS

Claire stared absently at the disc she had placed on her table. It looked like a CD, but played no music. She had inserted it into her DVD player, and nothing happened. There was only one thing left the disc could be.

She turned on her computer, and inserted the disc.

* * *

Terry struggled not to show signs of shortness of breath. Ryu and herself had been climbing the steps for the past five minutes, and still saw no signs of another floor. How far down did they lock them?

"Damn," muttered Ryu as they topped the eighth flight of steps. There were fifteen steps each section, and one flight consisted of two sections. "They're steep, too! They're not those short little ones that aren't even stairs. I mean,-,"

"Hold on," Terry interrupted as she stared straight up through the gaps in cement that the railing provided. She glimpsed what looked like a skylight only two or three more flights above them. "I think that this building is entirely underground."

"What do you mean?" asked Ryu, not following her logic.

"The skylight up there doesn't seem to show a high elevation. I think we've been climbing up to the _first_ floor. They must have what they do in here on the bottom floor."

"You mean, once we reach the top…," Ryu began, but Terry finished.

"We'll have to go down to reach our destination,"

Ryu muttered again, and Terry led the way as they continued their climb, and finally reached the top as Ryu gasped for air a little ways behind her.

"You know?" he started as he reached the top floor. "I really don't like these guys."

Terry laughed a little, and cautiously opened the door to the first floor.

* * *

Claire opened the data file on the disc when it was finished loading. She studied it for about five minutes before she gasped.

"This," she began. "This is the original version of the virus!"

A TV blared in the background.

"So far recorded, it is believed ten people died from playing the controversial game in Japan alone. These victims all were first comatose before their death, and all of this happened in the time that CC Corporation was threatening to shut down the popular game due to a rampaging virus in the game.

"All victims' characters were infected with this virus in large quantities. One victim, Shelly Tonsay's father passed due to what is believed to be a car accident. His body was believed to be hurled from the car, and never recovered.

"Our question to the world is, should such a game be allowed to exist if these computer flashes can comatose victims? I for one-,"

* * *

Surprisingly, the other side of the door revealed a vast single room with no one in it. The only things that seemed out of place in the formal yet casual setting were the secretary's desk and three elevators.

"500yen says that desk is just for show," growled Ryu. Terry gave an awkward smile, and they went towards the elevators. "By the way, do you know where that disc they want is?"

"Yeah," muttered Terry. "When they grabbed me, I left it at my friend Claire's house. I don't know if she took it inside or not,"

"I'd hope so," Ryu said, staring out the window into the night of rain.

"It's been doing that a lot recently," Terry's breaking the silence that had settled over them made Ryu jump.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"Raining. It seems like it won't stop," said Terry slowly. Ryu nodded, and pushed down on the elevator.

"So far so good, but we'd be screwed if someone came on the elevator while we were on it," Ryu said negatively.

"Maybe they won't?" suggested Terry, but Ryu still felt like he was getting into another mess he didn't want to be in. No, he'd been involved since he found that axe in the game. He was just getting deeper into the mess.

* * *

"You're going home?" a man asked another one. The object of the question was fatter, and had less hair. His squinty eyes and double chin made it pretty much impossible to tell his feelings from his face alone.

"Yea," said the fat one. He pushed the 'up' button on the elevator. "Just a little tired."

"Alright," said the other one. "I'll see you tomorrow. Try to be on time for once!" He was joking, but the fat one scowled as he stepped into the elevator.

"Damn him," he muttered to himself as he waited for it to reach the first floor. Was it his fault he had no car?

The elevator doors opened and he was greeted by a teenage kid yelling, "Oh shit!" and then he felt pain on his head, and passed out.

* * *

"See? Bad omen," began Ryu.

"I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff," jeered Terry, holding a wooden baseball bat. "Just be glad that whoever worked at this desk liked baseball."

"I don't think you hurt him to bad," said Ryu when he saw Terry's expression at the passed out man. "Just knocked him out, is all."

"Oh," said Terry. "Well? Are you gonna move him out of the way, or what?" Ryu sighed, and pushed the fat man out of the elevator.

"Wow, he's heavy," grunted Ryu, trying to drag the man. He finally settled on rolling him out, and he and Terry went in. "Aw man,"

"What is it?" asked Terry.

"We need a key to get to the bottom floor," he growled. "Why are we going down here for, anyway?"

"We need to destroy any other copies of the virus, and, if Claire's theory is right, delete an e-mail containing a huge part of the virus," Terry replied casually.

"An e-mail?" asked Ryu. "Why would that have a code for the virus?"

"I don't know," Terry answered honestly. "But I do know that we need to hurry before we're noticed."

"Alright," Ryu said. "But shouldn't this guy have a key?" Terry bent down next to the man they attacked.

"No," she said. "Can we move on? This guy smells like bad fish,"

Ryu laughed a little, and then pushed the lowest floor button on the elevator.

* * *

Claire stared at the code on her screen. It seemed to have faint clues about the location of its origins. Maybe if she could track where the disc was from, she could get an idea as of its creation. Now all she had to do was go through the difficult process of hacking a server.

The elevator descended the floors one by one, and not a single other person going down had gotten on. All this did was make Terry's fear of another person getting on the elevator grow.

Finally, the elevator stopped. Terry felt somewhat relieved, and waited for the doors to open, but Ryu put a hand on her shoulder.

"This isn't the floor we chose," he said quietly. Terry glanced at the buttons on the wall, and felt her stomach plummet. Ryu had picked the lowest button, the eighteenth floor. They were stopped on the seventeenth.

"What do we do?" Terry asked, afraid that they were trapped.

"Let me see that baseball bat," Ryu whispered. Terry stared at first, but then remembered the narrow wooden object clutched in her hand. She nodded, and handed it to him.

The door slid open.

A man with glasses was staring intently at a clipboard. He seemed not to notice Ryu and Terry standing in the elevator. Ryu brought the bat down quickly, and knocked him out.

"At least no one's seen us yet," Ryu said. "This floor looks just as deserted…"

"Ryu," Terry said. "Look!" A glint of silver caught Ryu's eye. Terry reached the man, and pulled off a small keychain from his belt. Four keys were hanging together on the chain.

Terry stood up, and handed the chain to Ryu. "Try it on the elevator," she offered.

Ryu carefully slid the shortest key into the key slot, and it turned easily to the right. The glass panel marked '19' light up, and the elevator doors began to close. Terry jumped in, and the doors closed, blocking the man and wooden baseball bat from their view.

* * *

Claire was growing aggravated from trying to hack into the group dubbed 'S.R.H.W.'. They're database was so heavily encoded with passwords and locks that it was seemingly impossible to get into.

Claire was sitting on her front porch with a wire connecting her laptop to the internet leading into her house. The cool night air blew by, and Claire shuddered slightly. She remembered Terry.

Where was she? Did she go home? That was the most likely answer. She couldn't imagine Terry still out on the streets at this hour. Sighing from confusion, Claire opened the folder that was left on her porch along with the disc.

"Hiyaki?" Claire asked the air, and read the file. Her eyes widened in surprise. This man the file described was a virus victim, but this was so long ago. Could this be the virus prototype that affected him? Then she figured it out.

"This disc is the virus prototype," she whispered. "It must be important to this group, but what could they do with it?"

* * *

The nineteenth floor was nothing but a long hallway leading to a small office door. Terry tried to open it, but noticed it was locked. Ryu stepped in front, and fumbled with three of the keys before getting the right one on the forth try. Ryu pushed open the office.

"This is definitely Varuchio's office," Terry muttered as they walked in. Ryu recognized it too. It was exactly the same as the one in "The World". The screens that had once monitored their progress in "The World", now showed majority of the floors in the building. Ryu stared at them, and Terry sat down at the computer.

Luckily, it wasn't locked by a password. Varuchio must have been sure no one would manage to get into his office. It wasn't long before Terry had gotten on to ALTIMIT. Terry clicked the e-mail section, and saw a long list of unopened mail. One seemed to be addressed to Varuchio from himself. Terry clicked on it, and saw only three words; 'file name, SECRETS'. Confused, Terry continued to scroll down the e-mail list, searching for the virus. There it was, a huge code for the virus was listed last.

"Terry," started Ryu. "They found him,"

Terry looked up to the surveillance screen Ryu was looking at, and saw three or four thuggish looked people huddled over the unconscious man they had taken the key from. They seemed to notice that the key was missing, and immediately ran down the stairwell.

"We don't have much time," Ryu said warningly.

"Just a few more seconds," Terry responded. She clicked 'delete' over the virus mail, but the computer was taking its time. The file must have been made of multiple parts, because the computer had a notice pop up displaying the results of the deletion.

60

Ryu watched as the men rounded the corner leading to the Eighteenth floor in the stairwell.

75

They had now stopped at a door blocking the last stairwell from access.

80

One ran back up the steps. They must have forgotten the key to the nineteenth floor.

90

The man with the key now in hand reached the bottom of the stairs.

The file was now in the recycling bin. Terry was quickly typing to empty it.

They had unlocked the door, and started running down a final few flights of steps, when Terry yelled, "It's done,"

"Good," Ryu said. "Come on!" he yelled, and they ran from the office. Sense the thugs were on the stairs, they're only option was the elevator. Both the elevator door and stairwell door opened at the same time.

Terry and Ryu, stepped in, and watched in surprise as the guards rounded the corner towards the office, and completely missed Terry and Ryu. When one finally noticed, all he saw was Ryu smirking, and the elevator doors close all of the way.

* * *

They ran out of the building as soon as the elevator reached the top floor. Ryu made sure to lock the building with the keys he still held. That would slow them down. They kept running down the long street.

"Where are we going?" asked Ryu.

"To where I left the disc," Terry responded. Ryu nodded, and they continued down the street. A quick left and Terry immediately recognized where she was. Claire house was only a few more blocks away.

* * *

Claire only needed one more code to access the S.R.H.W. database. She had decided to go back inside and figure it out tomorrow, when she saw two figures running down the street towards her house. Claire recognized Terry.

"Terry?" Claire asked, as soon as she was close enough to be talked to without yelling. "What are you doing?"

"That disc," Terry panted. "Do you still have it?" Claire's eyes widened.

"You're the one that left it on my porch?" she asked. "Why? And what happened to you?"

"I'll explain later," Terry said hastily. Then she saw Claire computer screen. "What is that?"

"I don't know. I think it's the people that made the virus's database, but I can't get in until I figure out the last password." Terry thought for a moment, and then smiled.

"Try 'SECRETS'."

"They're coming," Ryu said, staring at a small van driving a few blocks away.

Terry stared. "Call the police," she said finally. Ryu nodded, and ran inside Claire's house.

"It worked!" Claire exclaimed. But her excitement soon died. "It's covered in the virus code."

"Claire," Terry said hastily. "Can you change the Disc into an anti-virus?" Claire smiled.

"Don't insult me," she said. "I'll have it changed in fifteen minutes."

The van was getting closer. Ryu came back outside, and stared. "All we can do now is wait for the police," he said. Claire picked up her stuff, and ran inside. Ryu and Terry followed.

They bolted the door, but that didn't stop the thugs from S.R.H.W. from ramming it. Claire typed hastily.

"Almost," Claire said after a little while. They rammed the door again.

"Any time now Claire," said Terry nervously.

The ramming stopped. A few tense minutes passed by. Terry had broken out in sweat, and Ryu seemed to be grinding his teeth. Claire yelled "Got it!" at the same time the door broke in from one large shoulder ram by the biggest of the guys.

"You're all dead now," grinned the man.

"Freeze!" yelled a voice behind the men. They turned around to see a cop holding them at gunpoint.

* * *

They were arrested for breaking and entering, and one cop stayed behind to talk to Claire. Terry used the disc on the hard drive of the group, and watched the virus be deleted once and for all. It was finally over.

"Where are your parents?" asked the cop.

"They went out of town for the weekend," Claire responded. The cop turned towards Terry.

"Are you alright?" asked the cop. And as the rain let up, for the first time that Terry could remember, she answered, "Yes, everything is fine,"

* * *

Okay! If anyone still reads this, then I hope that that short story wrapped up the loose ends from .hack/VIRUS. Again, I will shortly start the sequel, .hack/HEARTLESS ENTITY soon, so look forward to that in the fall. Again, I am deeply sorry for how long this update took. I just hope that someone is still reading this.

Please review. Even if it is just to yell for me taking so long to update.


	8. Note for reviews

Thank you for your reviews!

The main reason I'm posting this is because I found it might be difficult to review if you reviewed on my important notice, so, I put this notice up as an 'eighth' chapter. Thank you.


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